The president of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, has suggested that primary schools in Germany scrap English lessons in order to focus on more foundational skills such as reading and writing.
Meidinger suggests scrapping English at German Grundschulen
According to the recent international primary school reading enquiry, also known as “Iglu”, a quarter of pupils in the fourth grade at German primary schools have not yet reached the internationally recognised standard of reading competency required to transition from learning to read to further developing reading skills.
In response to the findings, the president of the German Teachers' Association (Lehrerverband), Heinz-Peter Meidinger, has said that primary school curricula in Germany should focus more on foundational skills.
“We need to pay more attention to the basics at primary schools, i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic skills,” Meidinger told the ARD Morgenmagazin. “We believe that English lessons are dispensable and that [this time] can be reallocated to [...] reading instruction.”
Meidinger added that while English lessons are very important at some schools, Germany has some primary school classes where “70, 80 or 90 percent of the children have a migration background, and barely have enough German language understanding”.
The president also took the opportunity to once again shine the spotlight on Germany’s teacher shortage, stressing that the system needed to get a grip on the problem of shortages in order to properly accommodate pupils’ learning needs.
German Primary Schools’ Association isn’t convinced
So far, the response from the German Primary Schools’ Association has been one of scepticism.
Speaking to the dpa, chairperson Edgar Bohn said that implementing Meidinger’s suggestions would not address the real challenges the German school system currently faces. “Primary schools are underfunded, overloaded with tasks and are now regularly working with staff who are not sufficiently qualified for the specific and challenging task of teaching English at beginners level.”